Mac EvangeList Bites the Dust

EvangeList, a popular Mac-related mailing list by former Apple exec Guy Kawasaki, has forwarded its last message.

But in a strange twist, the list that prompted Mac enthusiasts to pummel journalists because of what they viewed as unfair coverage is being mourned by the tech journalists who were frequent targets.

The EvangeList folded Thursday. The final posting, signed by Guy Kawasaki ("who is and shall remain pure Macintosh"), cited Apple's "stunning turnaround" as the main reason for discontinuing the list.

"The original purpose of EvangeList was to counteract the negative news about Apple and Macintosh, and I believe that EvangeList has served its purpose -- fantastically," Kawasaki wrote. "So, after discussing what we should do with EvangeList with the folks at Apple, we've decided to retire the list."

Kawasaki, a former Apple marketing executive, launched EvangeList in July 1996, during Apple's darkest days, to provide a daily stream of Mac cheerleading to counter bad news in the press about Apple.

The list also came to be a rich source of information about the Mac platform. Topping out at about 45,000 subscribers, the EvangeList provided a forum, a community, and an effective means of disseminating pro-Mac propaganda, troubleshooting tips, Mac jobs, and product announcements.

But the list was most famous for marshalling a formidable force of Mac fanatics when it appeared that the platform needed defending in the press.

Henry Norr, a former editor at MacWeek, said that he would get scores of "nasty, hostile" e-mail if he wrote anything critical about the Mac.

He said that while some were polite and thoughtful, in general the experience was like being "besieged by zombies," some of whom were "really unbalanced."

"I'm sure Guy didn't personally endorse the excesses of it," Norr said. "But I'm not sure he appreciated its negative effect. I personally felt this kind of stuff didn't help. It created the aura of a cult."

Another of its victims was James Coates, a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune, who has mixed feelings about the list's passing.

"I did suffer the brunt of an awful lot of abuse from Guy Kawasaki and the EvangeLists, and I am even bitter about it in some ways," he said. "But I learned a tremendous amount of things Macintosh there. I also made a lot of friends and things like that, so I mourn its passing."

Dan Gillmor, a columnist with the San Jose Mercury News, has been a faithful reader for many years and is sad to see EvangeList pass.

"Hearing from people who want to change your mind is really useful in the business of journalism," Gillmor said. "I learn more from people who disagree with me than I do from those who agree. But after hearing from several hundred, you do get weary."

Gillmor said it was significant that the EvangeList was going away.

"The saddest thing in sports is seeing a player going on too long," he said. "That applies to a lot of things; there's just a time to stop."

After Kawasaki quit Apple last year, administration of the list had largely passed to John Halbig, the technical master at Garage.com, Kawasaki's boot camp for Silicon Valley start-ups.

"It just started getting too odd trying to serve too many masters," said Halbig, who is known to the list as the Digital Guy. "At the end, being relevant and not just making trouble for the sake of making trouble was too hard."

Halbig cited widespread changes in the Net and the technology of setting up and administering mailing lists as factors. He said there is now a profusion of Mac news sites, and there are hundreds of Mac-related mailing lists.

The MacMarines Web site has taken on a lot of the rallying functions of the list, thanks to constant pressure from Apple to tone down the list, Halbig said.

"The most fanatical of the EvangeLists ended up there," he said.

There are already movements to launch a new EvangeList. Members are encouraged to send a message to john@privlex.com. A revival Web site is expected to appear within the next few days at http://www.evangelisters.com.